OpeniMac, which was first spotted by Engadget, is promoting its computers under the tagline, “Prestaciones de Mac. Precio de PC,” which translates as “The Benefits of a Mac. The Price of a PC.” Accordingly, the company offers visitors to its site comparisons between its computers and Apple’s Mac mini and iMac.
We should note, though, that neither the OpeniMac nor the OpeniMac Pro is an all-in-one design, despite the use of Apple’s trademark name for its all-in-one, iMac, in the name. As with PsyStar’s Open and OpenPro, the company isn’t trying to compete on design, but rather price. Indeed, Engadget went as far as to call the computers “aesthetically challenged.”
OpeniMac ad from the company’s Web site.
The 2.53 GHz Core 2 Duo OpeniMac is priced in US dollars, despite the company’s Argentinian base, at $990, or $1,330 with a 19″ display. The company compares it to the $599 Mac mini, which it lists as costing $1,137 and the $1,199 20″ iMac, priced at $1,767. The price discrepancy appears to be due to higher costs for imported Apple gear in Argentina due to customs taxes.
Similarly, the 3.0 GHz Core 2 Duo OpeniMac Pro is priced at $1,710, and is compared to higher end iMacs that OpeniMac lists as costing more than its own offering.
In both cases, OpeniMac offers Xbench 1.3 benchmarks that show its computers as being faster at some tasks than the Apple-branded Macs that are running at slower processor speeds, though it should be noted the comparison the company is making is one of price.
There is no news yet of Apple trying to sue the company like it has PsyStar, but we will update you as news develops. PsyStar offers Intel-based computers that it uses third party firmware to bypass Apple’s hardware checks, which allows them to run Mac OS X.
Apple sued the company for copyright and trademark infringement, and for violating its end-user licensing agreement. It later amended the suit to include charges PsyStar violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
PsyStar responded with a countersuit claiming that Apple somehow was a monopoly with its single digit market share, a claim summarily rejected by the courts.
Apple did not respond to our requests for comment at press time.